OSHA Partially Validates Method PV2120 for VOCs in Air

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OSHA Partially Validates Method PV2120 for VOCs in Air

Recently, OSHA partially validated method PV2120 for Volatile Organic Compounds in air. The OSHA SLTC Methods Development Team subjected the method to the established evaluation procedures. Often used for Industrial Hygiene, this technique has been applied to a number of situations involving Indoor Air Quality issues. Such issues include off gassing from paints, paint strippers, air fresheners, inks, stored fuel or other solvents, cleaning supplies, new carpets, cosmetics, dry-cleaned clothing, vehicle exhaust, and numerous other common indoor items that can cause health problems.

This method requires the use of an Entech MiniCan or SUMMA canister, which is an evacuated stainless steel container with electro-polished interior surfaces. MiniCans are commonly used when sampling for VOCs in EPA applications. The advantages to using MiniCans outweigh those of sampling methods commonly used in the past, which are known to have limitations. Sorbent tubes are linked to problems with collection efficiency and analyte recovery in the laboratory. In addition, only one test could be run from each sample at the laboratory. By using method PV2120 no sampling pump is required, analyte recovery issues with sorbent tube collections are avoided and now the luxury of replicated injections and dilutions during analysis is at the investigator’s fingertips. However, one limitation of PV2120 is that it lacks selectivity. For instance, if a personal monitoring MiniCan is placed on an employee wearing perfume or cologne, those volatile compounds may be drawn into the sample adding additional compounds to the results.

This method can be used to collect personal, grab, or time-integrated samples. Typically, a 400-mL MiniCan is used for grab samples and a 1L MiniCan for time-integrated. A holster or belt with a MiniCan attached can be placed on an employee’s hip in a manner that will not hinder their ability to work while it samples air through an inert inlet line at their breathing zone. The time-integrated sampling technique provides superior flow stability giving you the ability to sample for specific time periods. A sampling time of 2, 4, 6, or 8 hours is generally offered for time-integrated sampling. A grab sample draws air for roughly 4 minutes or less before the sampling apparatus is finished. To pull the sample, a high purity flow regulator is easily attached to the inlet and air begins to enter instantaneously. As the air pressure inside and outside the canister reach equilibrium, the sampling apparatus ceases to draw air and sampling is complete. Detaching the flow regulator will also stop the process. After sampling is completed, the canisters are returned to the laboratory where they are analyzed via GC/MS to determine the concentrations of specific compounds in the sample.

In an article OSHA recently published concerning PV2120, they referenced Aerotech Laboratories, Inc. as one of the accredited “laboratories which will analyze Entech Canisters on a fee-for-analysis basisâ€. Using an accredited laboratory for this analysis gives the investigator security in knowing that the analyses of their samples are of the highest quality. Accredited laboratories participate in stringent quality control tests and audits by independent organizations, such as AIHA and A2LA, to earn their accreditations. Accredited laboratories provide reliable, accurate and legally defensible data.

Aerotech can supply you with certified clean canisters for 400-mL MiniCans or 1L MiniCans and the time integrated samplers. Contact your Aerotech Project Manager at 800.651.4802 for more information on the analysis and canisters.

Listed below is additional information from an environmental consultant regarding the IAQ Tech Tip on Carbon Monoxide that was sent out in mid-2003:

• According to the CDC its National Center for Health Statistics, CO kills over 1500 per year and sends over 10,000 to the hospital.

• CO can also accumulate outdoors. There are many published reports of people dying from CO exposure outdoors such as from tractors, motorcycles, munitions, blasting, and while swimming behind motorboats.

• CO contains carbon which by definition makes it an organic gas.

• Electric ovens produce CO as well, especially in their self-clean cycle from burning food.

• Gas oven/ranges are allowed by ANSI Z21 to produce up to 800 ppm (air free) without a flue, while water heaters and furnaces are allowed to release up to 200 ppm each into their flues. There are no limits on the CO allowed from gas dryers or fireplaces. Depending on what fireplaces are burning, they may release 1000’s of ppm. Combustion engines in motor vehicles have catalytic converters that keep tailpipe emissions under 100 ppm when working but they are allowed to not work when cold, and in the minute or two it takes them to warm up (commonly while the car is still in the garage), they release 5,000 to 15,000 ppm which stays in the garage after the car leaves and the door is closed, after which all this CO gradually migrates into the house, commonly causing levels in rooms adjacent and above to exceed 100 ppm, as documented in an excellent study done several years ago for Minnigasco.

• Exposure to increases in 8-hour avg. ambient (outdoor) CO of just 1 to 2 ppm has been shown to be life threatening for both people with asthma and people with heart disease, who show a statistically significant increase in ER visits whenever this happens.

• NIOSH stipulates 1200 ppm as the level “immediately dangerous to life and health.â€

• OSHA’s max exposure level is 50 ppm average over 8 hours.

• Gas ovens are no longer made with flues as they were up until the 1950s and are often installed without any exhaust ventilation.

• Residential garages are on longer detached from homes, and despite an IMC requirement (403.3) that they have exhaust ventilation 24/7 (100CFM/BAY), none are built with such ventilation.

• The most significant CO sources like gas cars and gas ovens cannot be ‘corrected’ only better ventilated.

• The odds of finding a high CO level during a walkthrough are very small. You must leave a datalogger for at least hours if not days. Alarms also are worthless since they don’t display below 30 and even if they have a memory only display one peak and not the hours since it occurred.

• Even starting a car in an attached unventilated garage and driving it out within one minute can leave dangerous levels of CO behind (100s to 1000s of ppm). Install 24/7 exhaust ventilation in residential garages, as IMC 403.3 requires.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at info@..., or 800.651.4802.